A week after running up to Poo Poo Point, we decided to stay on West Tiger but explore some new trails (to Mikey and I, definitely not to Peter). On another beautiful early winter morning (before the nastiness came), we started from Peter's place and heading into Tiger via the trails behind Issaquah High School. I had no idea where we were going but knew that our destination was the top of West Tiger 3, the lower and more popular of the three West Tiger summits (elevation of 2,522 ft.). Michael and I enjoyed following Pete up the mountain via the Section Line Trail,
Talus Rocks Trail and West Tiger 3 Trail.
West Tiger 3 Trail is a nice wide trail leading up to the summit, switchbaking up the north side of the mountain, occasionally giving the legs a nice rest with a stretch of flat trail. The final mile gets steeper as it gets closer to the top (what a surprise!!) and right when I was ready to walk and Michael lost his breakfast (Was that the morning you ate Pizza or Enchiladas Mikey?), the trail opened up w/ great views looking north and the sunshine pouring down on us. After heading back under some small trees for about 50 meters, we were at the top of the bald summit enjoying the views looking west (pic below).
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| Views on top of West Tiger 3 looking west. Thanks to summitpost.org for this pic! | |
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Once Peter pointed out the radio tower on the top of
West Tiger 2, we couldn't
not run to the top of that too. The West Tiger peaks are easily connected by trails and only take a quick up and down run to get from one to the other. So in about one half mile we were at the top of West Tiger 2 under the radio tower we had just been looking at minutes earlier. Despite the addition of 235 feet in elevation gain, the views from the top of #2 aren't any better from those on #3, mostly because there are more trees in the way.
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| Good stopping point to refuel. |
On the way back, we took the same route as the way up but Peter had us add on a little bit near the end. We ran on the Bus Trail which was cool because we saw an old, rusted, gutted out
bus along the trail.
Overall, this was a great run and a preview of many more West Tiger runs to come. Running on Tiger Mountain made me realize how many hours one could spend up there never repeating the same trails which begged the question: how did it take me so many years to get up here!!?? Mas vale tarde que nunca though right!
For more info and directions, check out:
http://www.summitpost.org/tiger-mountain/222276
Run Stats: Total Distance: 14 miles Time: 2:00 Elevation Gain: ~ 2,400 ft. Pace: 8:34
West Tiger 3 Trail is a nice wide trail leading up to the summit, switchbaking up the north side of the mountain, occasionally giving the legs a nice rest with a stretch of flat trail. The final mile gets steeper as it gets closer to the top (what a surprise!!) and right when I was ready to walk and Michael lost his breakfast (Was that the morning you ate Pizza or Enchiladas Mikey?), the trail opened up w/ great views looking north and the sunshine pouring down on us. After heading back under some small trees for about 50 meters, we were at the top of the bald summit enjoying the views looking west (pic below).
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